- More than 7000 farmers are FSA certified under Sustainable Agriculture Initiative by Mane Kancor
KOCHI, India, Feb. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The increased demand for natural and organic products globally during the pandemic has been encouraging international producers of mint-based products to turn to India as the country produces 85% of the world's mint supply. Considering the ever-increasing demand for high-quality mint-based products, Mane Kancor Ingredients Pvt. Ltd, one of the largest flavour and fragrance companies in the world, is encouraging sustainable supply chains for mint in the Flavour & Fragrance Industry. Its pioneering Mint Sustainable programme introduced in 2016 is now gaining global attention as it addresses the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG's) right from the nursery to distillation.
"It all started when we realised that the farmers were shifting away from mint cultivation due to continuous increase in cost of inputs- high cost of cultivation, reduced productivity, climate change and market fluctuations. It increased the cost of production of mentha oil while alternate synthetic variants were 25-30% cheaper," says Geemon Korah, CEO, Director, Mane Kancor, established in 1969, now part of France-based Mane Group.
Bringing in modern cultivation practices, the Kochi-headquartered Mane Kancor approached the Mint farmers and supported the cultivation right from the nursery stage. "We introduced a technology called Early Mint Technology (EMT) with the help and guidance of scientists from CIMAP (Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants)," adds Geemon.
According to the research done by Mane Kancor, Early Mint Technology (EMT) helps farmers increase their yield by 20%, reduce their cost of cultivation by 20% and the irrigation requirement by 25%. "We are now closely working with CIMAP to provide the latest high-yielding and climate resistant planting material. CIMAP has developed the latest variety of the crop 'CIM UNNATI' which is claimed to increase the yield by 20%," says Geemon.
Mane Kancor agronomists have trained around 7000 farmers on sustainable agricultural practices and prepared them for certification by a third-party auditor under Farm Sustainable Assessment (FSA) programme by Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) platform to provide them access to better markets and better prices. All these farmers' fields are geo-tagged and geo-mapped with remote sensing & satellite imagery services to ensure traceability of the raw materials produced.
At field level, Mane Kancor supports local steam distillation plants involved in the production of mint oil and improves the distillation efficiencies. It also provides direct market linkage to sustainable mint farmers by way of Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed at beginning of each season. Apart from the dedicated mint oil and menthol manufacturing facility at Bareilly, the company is currently expanding its capacity across its manufacturing facilities in India. Its world-class innovation centre at Angamaly hosts expert analytical teams and top-of-the-line technologies who conduct research activities on innovations in many natural product segments and product development initiatives. It also involves in CSR activities in the mint growing belt to support local farmer communities.
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